Howto:Add blackout and redout settings

From FlightGear wiki
Revision as of 06:06, 15 January 2017 by Necolatis (talk | contribs) (→‎Post Flightgear 2017.1.1: corrected heading)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.

This is how to add blackout and redout settings to an aircraft. These settings will determine when the view will start to turn black or red and when it will be fully black or red due to g-force This is a link to a Wikipedia article.

Note  While the pilot will be temporarily blind due to g-force he will not be incapacitated (G-LOC) and will still be able to control the aircraft.

Flightgear 2016.4.4 and earlier

Involved properties

Blackout and redout are controlled through these properties in /sim/rendering/redout/:

  • enabled (bool)
  • parameters/blackout-onset-g (double)
  • parameters/blackout-complete-g (double)
  • parameters/redout-onset-g (double)
  • parameters/redout-complete-g (double)

These properties can be controlled at runtime or be added to any PropertyList XML file, for example an aircraft-set.xml or your own configuration file.

In addition to these properties there is another property, /sim/rendering/headshake/enabled (bool), that will make the pilots viewpoint move up and down due to the g-force, for example due to maneuvers or turbulence.

Example

This example show how these setting can be added to a propertylist xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<PropertyList>
    <!-- ... -->
    <sim>
        <!-- ... -->
        <rendering>
            <redout>
                <enabled type="bool" userarchive="y">true</enabled>
                <parameters>
                    <blackout-onset-g>6</blackout-onset-g>
                    <blackout-complete-g>8</blackout-complete-g>
                    <redout-onset-g>-2</redout-onset-g>
                    <redout-complete-g>-4</redout-complete-g>
                </parameters>
            </redout>
            <headshake>
                <enabled type="bool" userarchive="y">true</enabled>
            </headshake>
        </rendering>
        <!-- ... -->
    </sim>
    <!-- ... -->
</PropertyList>

Flightgear 2017.1.1 and later

The blackout/redout system in Flightgear 20171.1.1 and later work a bit different. The system is now time based, so for example the longer time you spend at a high G the darker the screen gets. It also features G priming, so that if you for example pull some high Gs for a while and then go negative the redout will take longer to come into effect, and vice versa, as the blood flows to or from the pilots brain.

As in the previous system, you can customize some parameters according to the quality of the G-suit the pilot is wearing and training at anti-G breathing.

Notice that the new system is backwards compatible with the old system. It is also compatible with the Custom blackout system v1.05+ as that system will switch itself off, if FG 2017.1.1 or newer is used.

Involved properties

Blackout and redout are controlled through these properties in /sim/rendering/redout/:

  • enabled (bool)

If the system is on or off.

  • parameters/blackout-onset-g (double) [Default = 2.5]
  • parameters/onset-blackout-sec (double) [Default = 300]

Onset-g must be positive and above 1. This is the G-force when the blackout effect will start to come into effect. This is also the G-force that the pilot will have to get below to clear the blackout of the screen. The time property is to set how many seconds it takes to get complete blackout at this G value.

  • parameters/blackout-complete-g (double) [Default = 4.5]
  • parameters/fast-blackout-sec (double) [Default = 10]

Complete-g must be higher than blackout-onset-g. This should be at or near to the maximum the pilot should be expected to tolerate depending on his G-suit and anti-G breathing techniques or lack of those. The fast-blackout-sec, is how long it will take to blackout completely at this G value. This should normally be considerably shorter than onset-blackout-sec.

  • parameters/redout-onset-g (double) [Default = -2]
  • parameters/redout-complete-g (double) [Default = -4]
  • parameters/onset-redout-sec (double) [Default = 45]
  • parameters/fast-redout-sec (double) [Default = 7.5]

These four works like the first four, just for negative Gs. Onset-g must be below 1 and complete-g must be below onset.

  • parameters/recover-fast-sec (double) [Default = 7]
  • parameters/recover-slow-sec (double) [Default = 15]

The recover-slow is how long it takes to recover from complete redout/blackout just below the onset, and recover-fast is how long it takes to clear at 1 G.

The default values, is estimated to be for a pilot without G-suit and untrained in anti-G breathing techniques.

These properties can be controlled at runtime or be added to any PropertyList XML file, for example an aircraft-set.xml or your own configuration file.

In addition to these properties there is another property, /sim/rendering/headshake/enabled (bool), that will make the pilots viewpoint move up and down due to the g-force, for example due to maneuvers or turbulence.

Example (F-16)

This example show how these setting can be added to a propertylist xml file: These blackout settings is the values used in a 1979 Langley simulator for F-16. Notice that the redout is also the default values, that is because G-suits mainly protects against high G, not much against negative Gs.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<PropertyList>
    <!-- ... -->
    <sim>
        <!-- ... -->
        <rendering>
            <redout>
                <enabled type="bool" userarchive="y">true</enabled>
                <parameters>
                    <blackout-onset-g type="double">5</blackout-onset-g>
                    <blackout-complete-g type="double">9</blackout-complete-g>
                    <onset-blackout-sec type="double">300</onset-blackout-sec>
                    <fast-blackout-sec type="double">10</fast-blackout-sec>
                    <redout-onset-g type="double">-2</redout-onset-g>
                    <redout-complete-g type="double">-4</redout-complete-g>
                    <onset-redout-sec type="double">45</onset-redout-sec>
                    <fast-redout-sec type="double">7.5</fast-redout-sec>
                    <recover-fast-sec type="double">7</recover-fast-sec>
                    <recover-slow-sec type="double">15</recover-slow-sec>
                </parameters>
            </redout>
            <headshake>
                <enabled type="bool" userarchive="y">true</enabled>
            </headshake>
        </rendering>
        <!-- ... -->
    </sim>
    <!-- ... -->
</PropertyList>

Blackout, redout and Rembrandt

As of March 2016 it seems that redout and blackout is not yet implemented in Rembrandt.

Related content

Wiki articles

Forum topics

Mailing list threads

Source code